another great Denver Post piece

[JOzersky@aol.com]

June 22 - Don't give up on seeing Keith Van Horn in a Denver Nuggets uniform
after 
Wednesday's draft. 
The Denver Nuggets haven't. 
Though the Friday trade that sent Clarence Weatherspoon and Michael Cage from
the 
Philadelphia 76ers to the Boston Celtics for Dino Radja blew out of the water
Denver's proposed 
trade of Ervin Johnson and the fifth pick in the first round for Cage and the
second pick - to be 
used to draft Van Horn - it may have created one possibility that still could
bring Van Horn to 
Denver. 
Here it is: 
San Antonio, of course, makes Wake Forest center Tim Duncan the first pick. 
Philadelphia uses the second pick to draft Colorado guard Chauncey Billups. 
Boston makes Texas Tech center/forward Tony Battie the third pick. 
Vancouver drafts Van Horn. 
Denver takes Bowling Green point guard Antonio Daniels. 
The Nuggets trade the rights to Daniels, plus veteran guard Dale Ellis to the
Grizzlies for the 
rights to Van Horn, plus Grizzlies forward Eric Mobley. 
Voila! The Nuggets get Van Horn and they get to keep Johnson. 
The Celtics hold the key to unlocking the scenario. Because they gave up
Radja, their best big 
man, and got only a small forward and a power player long past his prime,
they now need a big 
man. Battie is the second-best big man available, and Boston may use the
third pick to take him. 
Celtics coach Rick Pitino has Battie on his very short list of players on
which he is willing to 
expend the first of the Celtics' two first-round picks, the third choice
overall. The others are 
Billups and Van Horn. 
Billups, most believe, is at the top of Pitino's short list; Battie at the
bottom. 
But if the 76ers draft Billups, the Celtics might see Battie as a better pick
than Van Horn. 
Don't laugh at the notion Philadelphia might take Billups. Rookie of the Year
Allan Iverson, 
who played the point last season, would become the 76ers' shooting guard,
which is what he is 
anyway, with Billups manning the point and defending the big guards. Jerry
Stackhouse would 
move down to Weatherspoon's small forward position, with Radja at power
forward. 
Battie's stock has gone up and down like an over-the-counter high-tech
initial public offering, 
but appears to be on the rise again, at the most opportune of times for him.
It now appears 
unlikely he will not be one of the top four picks. 
The Van Horn scenario, though, is a long shot. 
Here is what is most likely to happen for the Nuggets on Wednesday: 
The first four players taken, in order, are Duncan, Battie, Van Horn and
Billups. 
The Nuggets use the fifth pick to take Cincinnati's Danny Fortson, the
muscular forward who 
reminds observers of Calvin Natt, at least as far as his physicality and
athleticism. 
The Nuggets trade Johnson to the Toronto Raptors for the ninth selection,
plus Popeye Jones, 
then use the ninth pick to take Antonio Daniels, who slides past six, seven
and eight. Whatever 
they do Wednesday, the Nuggets can't afford to be timid .x.x. or wrong